Ten fun facts about Edwin Hubble

Fact 1Edwin Powell Hubble was born in Marshfield, Missouri on November 20, 1889 and died on September 28, 1953.

Fact 2He played a vital role in founding the field of extragalactic astronomy and is usually regarded as one of the most significant observational cosmologists of the 20th century.

Fact 3Hubble is recognized for demonstrating that the recessional velocity of a galaxy rises with its distance from the earth, suggesting the universe is growing and this is known as "Hubble's law”.

Fact 4Hubble is also acknowledged for offering substantial proof that many previously known "nebulae" were actually galaxies beyond the Milky Way.

Fact 5Hubble sustained the Doppler shift explanation of the observed redshift that had been suggested earlier by Slipher and that led to the theory of the metric expansion of space.

Fact 6On March 6 2008, the US Postal Service announced a 41 cent stamp honoring Hubble on a sheet called "American Scientists".

Fact 7The play "Creation's Birthday", written by Hasan Padamsee, tells the story of Hubble's life.

Fact 8He won the Bruce Medal, the Franklin Medal and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his work. He also got the Legion of Merit for exceptional contribution to ballistics research in 1946.

Fact 9The Orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, Asteroid 2069 Hubble and the crater Hubble on the Moon are named after him.